Page 156 of Hayden's Stalker

I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her to me before kissing her deeply. She feels so perfect in my arms, and the world rights itself as we come together. She winds her arms around my neck and kisses me back.

“Wow, so Heather was right after all,” April says from the entrance to the men’s room, sounding smug.

Tati and I spring apart, then we both turn to stare at April, who’s grinning at us.

“This is themen’s room, April,” I say, absolutely horrified that she caught us like this.

“So I’m led to believe, yet here Tatiana is, and you’re kissing her while on a date with me! I’m shocked. Shocked, I tell you!”She puts her hands on her hips and shakes her head, but she’s chuckling as she says it.

“We can explain,” I tell her quickly.

“That you and Tatiana are having a secret love affair? No, I got that. Oh my god, I can’t wait to tell Heather.”

Tati shakes her head, and I hate the fear in her voice as she begs, “You can’t, April. You really can’t.” She turns her face up to look at me, and the fear is reflected in her expression before she takes a few deep breaths and looks back at April. “Look, can we go upstairs and talk? I just need you to act like you’re still on a date with Hayden until we get to the suite, then we really can explain everything. Just please don’t tell Heather what you know.”

April flushes red and says, “Um, I already texted her and told her I was going to try and catch you two in the act.”

“But she doesn’t know you found anything out. Just hear us out, and we’ll explain.”

I’m relieved when April nods, and Tati escorts us out of the bathroom in silence. We don’t go back to our tables. Instead, I manage to get our waiter’s attention and ask him to charge our meals to my hotel suite before we head upstairs.

Daryl and Ethan are in the hallway guarding the rooms when we reach our floor, and Tati nods at Daryl as she leads us past him and into our suite. She leads the way over to the living room and sits down next to me on the sofa while April sits in an armchair across from us.

“Okay, so tell me why the hell you’re trying to keep a secret from Heather, Hayden Vega. I know you guys, and you just don’t have secrets. Ever.”

She’s right, and it’s really strange keeping something from any of the guys. We really don’t keep secrets from each other, but Tati’s so important to me, and so is my safety. If it wasn’t for mystalker, I’d be more than happy to shout about my relationship with Tati from every rooftop I could get to.

“It’s for my safety. Tatiana can explain better.”

We both turn to look at her, and Tati sighs heavily before she says, “I can’t do anything that risks Hayden’s safety. I’ve been in this business a long time, and it’s hard enough convincing men that I’m capable of doing the job. If the other bodyguards find out that I’m in a relationship with Hayden, there is a good chance that they will write me off as being useless and in an emergency situation that can be incredibly bad.”

I’m angry on Tati’s behalf that this even needs to be a consideration. She’s proven herself to be an amazing security specialist, and the fact that anyone would ever doubt her pisses me off. Not just because we’re in a relationship but because anyone who’s spent any time with her can see how good she is at her job.

April frowns at Tati for a few seconds, then says, “Okay, but that’s the bodyguards, not Heather.”

“You have no idea how much security personnel hear,” Tati scoffs. “I know state secrets from several different countries. I can’t divulge them, obviously, but it doesn’t mean I don’t know them.”

Once again, Tati manages to drop a nugget of information about her former life that absolutely astounds me. I know she would never lie to me, but I also can’t quite believe that people would really be so lax.

April and I look at each other, with April looking as surprised as I feel before I turn back to Tati and ask, “Seriously?”

Tati shrugs. “Yeah. I don’t blame people, because the whole point of bodyguards and security is that we mostly blend into the background and don’t interfere with your lives as best as we can. I can forgive you for overlooking us when talking about privatethings. What I can’t do is risk Heather saying something about us around the bodyguards.”

There’s a heavy silence left in the wake of her words before April asks quietly, “People really spoke of high-level secrets around you?”

“Yes. I was excluded from meetings, but people talk. They have a conversation when they think they’re alone, but you’re still close enough to hear. It happens all the time.”

“Damn.” April blows out a breath of air. “When Heather suggested I go on a date with Hayden to try and get him to confess to you two being in a relationship, I didn’t think I’d actually get you two to confirm it. I was only half-convinced Heather was right, anyway.”

Of course Tati was right, and of course Heather guessed that we’re together. I’ve been far too obvious around her, and she knows me far too well for her not to have picked it.

I chuckle and smile at April. “Heather doesn’t miss much. I doubt Tati and I could’ve kept our relationship a secret if she’d actually been on the tour with us.”

“So, what do we do now?” April looks at Tati.

“Well, we’d kind of planned for Hayden to tell Heather that sparks didn’t fly, and he didn’t want to go on any more dates.”

April purses her lips and frowns. “That makes sense. I’ll tell her that I didn’t see any sign of you two being together, but Hayden didn’t seem interested in me, so I’m not sure. I know that it doesn’t convince her that you’re not together, but if I tell her that, she’ll for sure know that something’s up.”

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